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Operations in North Africa and the Middle East 1939-1942, Tobruk, Crete, Syria and East Africa

This is another volume in the fine series of unabridged despatches, collected to cover specific campaigns. Authorship is always a tricky area with this type of book. The authors have done much more than an editor would to create a credible collection of primary source material and have provided the essential introductions. The text material is complemented by a good photographic illustration in the form of a photo-plate section. This type of book is a must for researchers, writers and well-informed enthusiasts, It is also essential reading for military professionals. However, it is a very readable work that provides fascinating insights from those who were in command and should appeal to a much wider readership. Recommended.

NAME: Operations in North Africa and the Middle East 1939-1942, Tobruk, Crete, Syria and East Africa
DATE: 140815
FILE: R2205
AUTHOR: John Grehan, Martin Mace
PUBLISHER: Pen & Sword
BINDING: hard back
PAGES: 312
PRICE: £25.00
GENRE: Non Fiction
SUBJECT: WWII, Second World War, World War Two, blockade, Mediterranean theatre, defeats, withdrawals, naval war, air war, desert campaigns
ISBN: 1-78346-217-5
IMAGE: B2205.jpg
BUYNOW: http://tinyurl.com/nvrwhgn
LINKS:
DESCRIPTION: This is another volume in the fine series of unabridged despatches, collected to cover specific campaigns. Authorship is always a tricky area with this type of book. The authors have done much more than an editor would to create a credible collection of primary source material and have provided the essential introductions. The text material is complemented by a good photographic illustration in the form of a photo-plate section. This type of book is a must for researchers, writers and well-informed enthusiasts, It is also essential reading for military professionals. However, it is a very readable work that provides fascinating insights from those who were in command and should appeal to a much wider readership. Recommended.

The period covered is the closing stage of German expansion. It may seem like yet another list of reverses for British forces and their limited allies, but it is a period when time was bought to prepare to turn the tide against the Germans. Within the retreats and evacuations, there were also magnificent rearguard actions and the Germans suffered their own reverses. The British may have left Crete, but the German airborne forces were never to recover from the invasion of Crete. Tobruk provided some determined defence against the German siege and tied down disproportionate German resources, probably costing the Afrika Corps capture of the Suez Canal.

The British managed to hang on in Malta and Tobruk against what should have been overwhelming odds. Although Tobruk was to eventually fall, it cost the Germans dear. Malta was to prove an expensive failure for Italian and German arms, but it did so much more than just resist. Torpedo and gun boats operated out of Malta, interdicting the German supply convoys taking vital supplies to Rommel. They were ably assisted by aircraft and submarines that also operated out of Malta.
By the Battle of El Alamein, Axis operations in the Mediterranean and Middle East theatres were at risk. The period of expansion had ended and the Allies were about to begin the process of rolling the Axis Forces back. This book contains the despatches that show how Allied commanders saw the developing situations from the information then available to them.